A 20-something sold his first company for $80 million in 370 days - now he's raising $11 million for his new startup
Jared Hecht sold his first company, GroupMe, 370 days after it launched for ~ $80 million. GroupMe, a group text messaging app, was acquired by Skype in 2010.
After leaving Skype, Hecht launched a new venture in early 2014 - a startup called Fundera. Fundera helps other founders get their businesses off the ground by offering a credit marketplace for small businesses.
Now, prospective loan recipients complete an upfront application, see their matches, select one or more of them, and then submit all of the exact information that the lender needs to make an offer directly through Fundera. Once Fundera has all of the proper documentation, it submits the application on the business owner's behalf.
Users never have to leave Fundera's platform, and will get the tons of help from Fundera's team along the way, if they need it. Hecht says that members of Fundera's "customer success team" aim to be educators, giving the small business owners as much information as possible to make good, responsible decisions about which loan product to go with.
Since launch, Fundera has secured more than $60 million in credit for 1,200 small business owners. The company expects to do $100 million in loan origination in 2015 alone.